Orion starts a research collaboration with the US company Ablita Therapeutics

Pharmaceutical company Orion and the US biotech company Abilita Therapeutics have entered into an agreement aimed at developing new antibody therapies for the treatment of cancer and pain.

The collaboration utilizes the Enabled Membrane Protein technology developed by Abilita, which can be used to study and target treatments to challenging protein targets, such as receptors and ion channels connected to G proteins.

According to the agreement, Orion is responsible for selecting the cooperation targets and funding the research. In addition, the company is responsible for the development and commercialization of a maximum of three antibody treatments. The agreement also includes the option to license Abilita’s preclinical research programs in the future.

Abilita gets the right to advance payments, development and sales stage payments and royalties, if the co-developed treatments reach commercial use.

“We are looking forward to this collaboration with Abilita. Orion is dedicated to improving patients’ lives through innovative research and development activities, and having Abilita’s proprietary Enabled Membrane Protein technology available increases our opportunities to develop new treatments” Director responsible for Orion’s Innovative Medicines results unit and research and development activities Outi Vaarala says in the announcement.